A Weapon, A Shield, A Guardian
by The Impossible Muffin
Summary: All things must come to an end, even the Age of the Guardians. However, by the Guardian's very nature, so long as the Light remains, so to, does hope flourish. For young Ruby Rose, this ends up being a very good thing.


҉҉ ҉ ҉

The Hunter could barely think, let alone move. The vanishing of the Arc lightning that was constantly present in his body, empowering his mind, reflexes and strength, had almost completely disabled him. Every movement felt sluggish, like he was wading through mud. Hell, even THINKING was nigh impossible. Unfortunately, he very badly needed to be able to think, for looming above him was a massive Cabal who, under no such restrictions, could easily tear him to pieces, and his ghost was utterly defenseless.

"You are not brave, you have merely forgotten the fear of death;" The giant space-turtle was speaking, but he couldn't quite comprehend what was actually being said. He just. Had. To. Stand. If he could stand, he could get something going, possibly- "Allow me to reacquaint you."

The blow, surprisingly, added a little bit of clarity to his thoughts, enough to realize that his ghost had just fallen off the edge of the giant ship. He was screwed. Instincts honed over several thousand years screamed at him to grab his rifle and mount an offensive against the being that had so thoroughly defeated him, but all he could do was look up into the face of Death.

The Cabal general leaned down so that they were at eye level. "I am Ghaul, and your Light is mine." He lifted a foot twice the size of the Hunter's head and contemptuously pushed the Hunter off the side of the ship.

҉ ҉ ҉

 _Status:_ Comatose

 _Light levels:_ Low

 _Armor:_ Damaged

 _Circuitry:_ Damaged

 _Higher Functions:_ Damaged

 _Suggested course of action:_ Heal with remaining Light and wait until Ghost or substantial source of Light is detected and siphoned.

The Ghost never found him. What was left of humanity became scavengers: the group of Guardians that rallied to Zavala on Titan were wiped out by the Hive, Ikora failed to stop the Cabal on Nessus and no one was left to care about Cayde. The Red Legion left the system with the Traveler and the Vex followed, curious about the group able to defeat what had been for them, an impossible challenge. The Fallen vanished from the earth and memory.

And the Hive looked down from the shattered moon at the remnants of the human race and smiled. For a species so adamantly in favor of the concept of peace, humans adhered to the Sword Logic perfectly. With the Traveler gone and the Light practically nonexistent, they decided to leave the humans a gift to remind them that in the end, there was only one truth. It was a grim one.

҉҉ ҉ ҉

 **Cycle Upon Cycles Later**

8 year old Ruby Rose deeply regretted her short life's decisions. Granted, finding out that her mother was never coming home was a perfectly good reason to run out of the house crying, but perhaps running so far into the woods that she attracted Grimm wasn't the smartest idea.

The growls were getting closer. She risked a glance back but only saw the flash of a white mask and glowing red eyes in the shadows: the night was getting dark enough that the bodies of the Beowolves chasing her started getting lost among the trees. Unfortunately, this also meant that she missed the sharp drop directly in front of her. She stepped and her foot met only air. With a startled yelp, she tumbled down a sharp incline, bruising herself on outcroppings and loose rocks. Her descent was finally halted by a small tree growing from the bottom of the incline. Coughing slightly, she heaved her aching body off of her back and onto all fours. There was just enough light for her to see that she was at the bottom of a small canyon, and the faint growls were getting louder. She took off in the direction away from the menacing sounds, hoping against hope dad or uncle Qrow would miraculously appear and save her. Unfortunately for the small child, not only did her family not arrive, but the canyon had also ended rather abruptly. The wall had no clear handholds for her to even attempt climbing, and the growls had become an almost constant rumble in her ears, growing ever louder. In desperation she glanced around in hopes of finding some other escape path. At her back, the canyon wall, and to her front, the shadowy shapes of the Grimm stealing forwards. To her right was another cliff, and to her left was a cave. Ruby Rose took the only option available to her: the cave. It was almost pitch black, and she could only find her way by touch. However, there was enough light to reveal two things: 1. The cave ended fairly quickly, and 2. There was a figure shrouded in darkness in the cave.

҉҉҉҉ ҉ ҉

 _Significant Light Source Detected._

 _Status:_ Comatose

 _Light Levels:_ Low: Source insufficient to channel abilities.

 _Armor:_ Repaired.

 _Circuitry:_ Repaired.

 _Higher Functions:_ Disabled. Insufficient Light to repair.

 _Designation:_ Hunter.

 _Purpose:_ Guardian.

 _Suggested Course of Action_ : Activate and search for larger concentration of Light.

Untold millennia of dust and debris sloughed off the figure as it stood up, almost seeming to glow in the dim light. Despite the intimidating knight-like armor, it strode forward with an almost sinuous grace, glanced at the source of Light, a human child, and noticed her fear. Red pinged on its radar, and the Hunter turned to face the oncoming creatures of the Darkness. They were far different than the enemies in the Hunter's databanks, but were obviously dangerous enough that the girl behind the Hunter would have absolutely no chance at survival. If, of course, the Hunter wasn't there.

 _Number of Enemies:_ 5

 _Power Levels:_ 4 low, 1 average

 _Available Weapons:_ Darkdrinker, 3 knives

 _Strategy:_ Darkdrinker unnecessary.

Advance to give V.I.P. space for defense.

Behead 1st enemy.

Shift stance to gut pouncing enemy from the left.

Jump over swipe from Major.

Throw knife into head of enemy attempting to eliminate human.

Maneuver last normal enemy into strike from Major.

Sheathe knife and disembowel Major with claws from Clasps.

Retrieve thrown knife.

The Hunter shifted its body to prepare for maximum momentum, and drew a knife. If it could have, the Hunter would have smirked.

҉ ҉ ҉

Ruby watching in awe as the person dismantled the Beowolves with mechanical precision. There wasn't a single wasted movement, and he was so fast! He seemed to know exactly where each Beowolf was at every second, not even needing to look behind him to avoid blows from the Alpha Beowolf. At one point, one of the smaller Beowolves had broken off from the attack and gone for her, but before she even had time to scream, its head had disappeared and it collapsed to the ground. The thrown knife landed at her feet and she picked it up: it was quite possibly the largest knife she had ever seen, almost more of a short sword than an actual knife. As she looked up from the weapon, she saw that the battle was almost over: the Huntsman (because he had to be a Huntsman: who else could be so cool?) had put his other knife away and was ripping the Alpha Beowolf to shreds with his clawed gloves.

It was official: Ruby had figured out what she wanted to be when she grew up.

The Alpha Beowolf let a screeching howl before dissipating into nothingness. The Huntsman turned and walked towards her and casually held out a hand for his knife. Upon receiving it, he gestured for her to follow him, turned and began walking out of the canyon.

҉ ҉ ҉

he Hunter glanced at the small human accompanying him; she was so small and helpless, and from the generally torn state of her clothing it was a miracle she had survived as long as she had seemed to. Her face was smudged with dirt but it shone with hero worship as she stared up at him. If the Darkness was to be beaten back on this planet, it was imperative that the Hunter find a significant source of Light to regain its functioning thought processes, but until then perhaps the kindest course of action would be to safeguard this child. After all, a Hunter is a weapon against humanities' enemies, its shield against the Darkness, but most of all a Hunter is a Guardian.


End file.
